OE Global 2019

The paper draws on National Educational Initiatives to promote open and flexible learning through ICT, in particular the impact of the Hellenic Digital School Open Educational Resources and Practices (OERs/OEPs) on English as a Foreign language (EFL) teaching and learning in Greek public schools. Although OERs reside in the foundational pillar of educational policies for equitable access to high quality learning, educators’ responsiveness to OERs has not been widely researched neither have the outcomes of open education intervention schemes been consistently monitored and assessed (UNESCO & COL, 2016). The survey study was conducted amongst 198 public school EFL teachers using a questionnaire. Findings suggest that teachers’ awareness and perceptions of OERs were well above average but their levels of familiarity and engagement with OEPs were moderately low. Only the OERs embedded in the Open Interactive Textbooks were systematically applied by half of the respondents supplementing the preparation and the presentation of their lessons. Also, with the exception of revising (mainly adapting), there was low scale of reporting as concerns the sharing, repurposing and redistribution of resources between educators, thus defeating the purpose of building communities of practice around OERs. The research contributes to the sustainability open education action plan agendas.